- self-guided, single-centre walk
- beautifully located rural hideaway
- timeless medieval villages and fascinating history
- good choice of walking routes
- hire car included
To explore the valley of the meandering River Lot and those of its neighbours – the Célé to the north and the Aveyron to the south – is to travel back through time to the Middle Ages. Fortifications dating from the Hundred Years War; castles built to control mills; abbeys that drew (and still draw) scores of pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela; mansions with ornate windows and façades owned by prosperous saffron merchants; fortified bridges … all have a story to tell. And surrounding them all is a verdant, undulating landscape of great beauty that not only provides an abundance of produce incorporated into the region’s rich cuisine, but also offers some great walking, too.The crystal-clear rivers carve through this beautiful limestone countryside. Small villages grow out of the rock, boasting ramparts from the 15th century. This is authentic rural France, but don't tell too many people!
Mike Cooper, French route-note writer
On this fascinating holiday, you spend the week at the restful La Bastie d’Urfé, where tranquillity reigns. Despite the wonderful feeling of remoteness, here you are actually very well placed to explore the little-known but delightful valleys of the Lot, Célé and Aveyron. You could spend the entire week meandering by car from one picturesque village to the next but, to give you a different perspective of these often dramatically sited settlements, we provide a wide variety of walks that can be combined with cultural visits so that you spend half your day walking and the other half soaking up the old-world atmosphere of these intriguing places.